The Importance of Punctuation and Grammar Could Be Life or Death!
 

Inspired by Jazuela, I thought it may be fun to add those wonderful miscommunications that have occurred due to small errors.

As George Bernard Shaw said: "The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place".

So, here is my first:

You know your stuff. (substituted stuff for the brown s word).

versus

You know you're stuff. (only works with the forbidden substituted word)

Let's eat grandma.

Let's eat, grandma.

It takes many ingredients to make Burger King great but, the secret ingredient is our people

I think that there are simply too many homophones around and they're causing problems...with their convolutions.




:D

So true - and on the last day of Gay Pride month no less!

I have learned from my professional life, that people who focus on punctuation simply do not understand the topic to make meaningful comments.

I learned from my professional life that people who are sloppy with their grammar, punctuation, and spelling are usually sloppy with other aspects of their work.

Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Tsar Alexander III once cleverly used punctuation to save a man from exile. Her husband had written an order that harshly sent a man into exile in Siberia.

It said, “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia”.

All the Empress did was to move the comma:

“Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.”

A book on the topic:
https://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-L.../dp/0399244913

I put this right up there in the same category as Strunk and White's Elements of Style.

nope

Throw the dog over the fence a bone.

11 consecutive "hads". John, where Mary had had "had" had had "had had". "Had had" had had the teacher's approval.

Totally agree, I focus way more on informative content than the formality in wich it was delivered. And to call it life or death, well, that is absolutely ridiculous. Things like cancer are life or death, not punctuation?

Perhaps in your experience but not mine. People who couldn't write well were a liability.

While I tend to agree with those who downplay the importance in everyday speech and writing, we should be cognizant of the incredible importance that punctuation and grammer play in legal documents. As we get sloppier in our speech and everyday communications, I fear that at some point, misunderstanding is bound to occur. Perhaps even more of an issue is the misuse of vocabulary. Every day I hear news people and other announcers on TV use a word that has no correct application in the context it is used.

I frequently heard this from individuals who offered no meaningful value to the review of documents. Comments along the line. of 'change puppy to small dog'. This when the documents dealt with flood mitigation or something completely unrelated to canines.

I'm guessing that most people have failed to realize that this thread is in the "Just for Fun" forum. Is this failure to pay attention as bad as a grammatical error?

We all do our best. I make an occasional mistake like daily because I am rushed or distracted. People have other physical and mental shortcoming that prevent them from being perfect. To point it out is a crime. IMHO.

Each day when I left work my desk was spotless. Paperwork put in the proper place and the desk wiped down. I rarely had to type a disciplinary letter to an employee or proposal to a customer. We had a staff who took care of those things and each manager had to Proofread the letter before it went to its destination. I swear it's true but I was the go to guy for ideas, words, concepts to make a letter valuable instead of just a run of the mill letter. My boss on the other hand was a Hoarder and I don't know that there was actually a desk under all the junk. He claimed to be a genius and as long as he was paying I was going along for the ride. He couldn't spell to save his hide. I never made him feel bad or revealed it to anybody. Why would I, we were a team. He helped me to be a better Manager and treated me well for a long time. We worked on things together.

I have found a tool on the computer that is free and invaluable and it's called Grammarly. I also use a Old School Dictionary, Online Dictionary and Online Urban Dictionary. I was called out for misspelling the word They. I typed The. One letter off and the meaning of the sentence couldn't be misunderstood by a Grandchild.

I understand where Biker 1 is coming from with the Liability statement but I also think it depends on what your job is or was. For me, I was working either at a Quarry, Concrete Manufacturer, Cement Supplier or Masonry Supplies Business. A spelling mistake does make you think the person you received it from is about as stable as Jello but to point it out makes you look like you play Handball Against The Curb! Small.

We had one other Boss. He never wrote a letter in his life, everything was verbal and only to one person and never wore a watch because he had someone with him who wore a watch. Pretty Cool!

Some of the slips of a letter are funny as hell, BK has pointed out several that are fantastically funny. People and how you treat others and how you live are what really count to me. If you see things differently thats cool with me. To Each Their Own! Having a good laugh and not busting people seem to be more fun to me then being critical.

You clearly don't understand the difference between making arbitrary changes and writing well. You might have dealt with people who like to make arbitrary changes but that is not my point. Poor writing was unacceptable where I worked. It would reflect poorly on the organization if it was seen by clients.

This thread is in Just for Fun. The topic is how punctuation changes or errors can completely change the meaning of a phrase or sentence. It is not about the value of correct punctuation or grammar. If you wish to start a thread about that topic, please feel free to do so. Further off topic posts will be removed.

Moderator

Yes, a comma was the case of life or death. Empress Maria Feodorovna, historically saved a man’s life by changing a comma. When she took the comma out of the Tzar’s orders it meant the man must be pardoned. With the comma in (as the Tzar intended) the order meant that pardoning the man was impossible, he must be executed. Tzars ruled by divine privilege, they were accountable to no one.

‘A woman, without her man, is nothing.’ The females in the class wrote: ‘A woman: without her, man is nothing.’ Punctuation can be powerful.

Lost: A small pony belonging to a young lady with a silver mane and tail.

The average North American consumes more than 400 Africans.

If I may seque just a little within this topic of how the way we use our language can be delightfully funny, I would like to throw in one of my favorites, the malapropism — mixing up words that sound close but have completely different meanings.

Example: I went to a home decor and remodeling show where lots of vendors were hawking their various wares from rented booths. One booth was selling mattresses.

They had a big professionally printed sign extolling all the wonderful ways in which sleeping on their adjustable mattress could improve health and comfort. It was a long list of how whatever was ailing you would miraculously get better.

My favorite was that the mattress would help someone who had a “hiatus” hernia. (I thought, “”Wow! That must have been some leave, vacation, sabbatical, break — maybe too much salsa dancing? Weight lifting camp?” Made me wonder.)

Mrs. Malaprop was a character in a play. She mixed up words in a funny way.

Okay. A malapropism appropriate for this thread...

Good punctuation means not to be late.

A great malapropism (from my friend): We had a neighbor who was also a house painter. I asked him to come in and look at painting the family room.

We discussed what needed doing and he asked me for my color preference. Not being gifted in the color department, I told him so and asked him to recommend his choice. "No, no," he insisted, "the choice must be yours." "But Ashley," I insisted, "I really am not good at this and I don’t want to choose because I’ll probably get it wrong." "Now, now," he replied, "I don’t want to hear any of that self-defecation." And so it has been, ever since.

:bigbow:

That's a good one!

Yes, except Eats gets its point across with humor.

Because of all the complaints about Alexia listening in on conversations they
have come out with a male version.
It doesn't listen to ANYTHING!

I would not have it any other way.

Here is another one I just read in an article about someone's father who traveled so much he had a lifetime travel pass with American Airlines. Talking about a room in their house where the father staged his travel articles: "He stored everything he collected while traveling in the basement."

Trying to think back to junior high grammar. Is that a dangling modifier?

I worked writing policy for a large county department. On 9/11, my supervisor called me into her office to discuss my use of a single comma. The horrific events of the day overshadowed my supposed mistake. I try to adhere to "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk, Jr. in my writing.

During the oral defense of a PHD thesis, one of the examiners said: “On page 5 paragraph 3 the second sentence has a period. Why?”

As I was a prooofreader at a newspaper on Long Island for many years, it frustrated me to see so many mistakes that I don't think are taught correctly in schools these days. Not just the punctuation, but the spelling and correct use of words that sound the same but are spelled different. The worst frustration is the use of 'every day'! Every day is TWO words, unless it's used before a noun. Using the correct form of contractions can be very confusing. No wonder the English language is so hard to learn.

It seems to be an everyday occurrence; I see it written incorrectly every day.

:bigbow:

:D

:mademyday:

But English can be weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though.

And for any non-native English speakers out there, “read” is pronounced like “lead” and “read” is pronounced like “lead”.

And punctuation makes this sentence perfectly acceptable:

that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is

Scroll down for the punctuated sentence:













That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is.

BK, that lovely portrait, did you draw it? I have a black and white one of me, in a hat, a technique we were taught to do by looking into a mirror.

I did. But hubby says I cheated and need to add 25 pounds and same amount of years! Yet he still lives. ROFL.